8 Random Facts About Me

Farrah
Apr 6, 2020
8 min read

I love tags like these. Don’t ask me why getting to know a stranger on the internet can be so fun, but it just is.

For those of you who would like to get to know me better as a person, I’ve spent a few hours compiling a list of 8 random, probably frivolous, facts about me. I tried to get a good variety in there.

With each fact, I also included a corresponding question that you can answer, too. I love learning about my audience!

1. I was once the dresser from Beauty and the Beast in a school play.

In middle school, I was in two plays: “Guys and Dolls” in 7th grade, and “Beauty and the Beast” in 8th. I absolutely loved acting, and I still wonder if some day I might do more acting in some shape or form. It was one of my favorite activities ever.

Anyway, I played that large wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast named Madame de la Grande Bouche. You know, this one?

The costume was quite large and boxy, and I had to wear this long, pointed “hat” on my head that looked like a Bugle—but hey, someone had to do it!

The best scene was when I chased someone from Gaston’s crew off the stage while flailing open my dresser doors and singing “Aaaaaaa!” (in a very PG attempt at mock-flashing him). The crowd went wild…

but then again, most of them were our parents.

What’s the craziest character you’ve ever played in a musical?

2. I make a mean ramen.

My secret isn’t even that special, but for some reason, it turns out SO GOOD. I try to eat healthy, but ramen is certainly my guilty pleasure… and that’s something I don't think will be changing any time soon.

Wanna know the trick?

Get Creamy Chicken Maruchan ramen. I can’t speak for any others; this is my go-to.
Boil it in water for wayyy longer than you’d expect. If you’re adamantly against very soft noodles (no, they aren’t MUSHY!) and are a firm believer in al-dente, this isn’t for you. I cook it for like 8 minutes I think?
Drain most of the water, but leave enough for it to be a little soupy. Too much water = less flavor. But I definitely like enough for there to be at least ¼ cup of thick creamy soup in there.
Add a tablespoon of butter. Because it wasn’t fattening enough as is.

I actually love reading about all the different ways people spice up ramen. I used to put Sriracha in mine, along with spinach and a splash of rice vinegar. Hey—no judgement.

P.S. Thomas did NOT like Ramen before me. He will only eat mine. And he is the pickiest eater ANYONE has ever met, so trust me, that says something.

How do you make your Ramen??

3. Ian Somerhalder is my BAE.

He doesn't know it yet. Just look at him… *heart eyes*

Need more proof? Don't worry. I've got you.

He’s forever my celebrity crush. I looooved his character, Damon Salvatore, in The Vampire Diaries. Drool-worthy.

The cool part is that he's this awesome guy in real life too. He's a humanitarian and environmentalist, and he spends a lot of time caring for others and for his wife, Nikki Reed (who was also in the vampire series,Twilight, which I find ironic!).

Who is your celebrity crush?

4. I. Love. Sloths.

I just do.

I have since I was maybe... 14?

They are so ugly that they're adorable. I haven't held one yet, but I've admired from afar.

However, for someone with as much sloth apparel and merchandise as I own, I should probably know more about them.

There are local, in-door zoos at two of my nearest malls where you can pay extra to hold a sloth, and THAT is most definitely on my bucket list. Try and stop me.

There is just something about them that resonates with me—maybe it’s because we’re both lazy?

Yeah, it’s probably that.

Is there a specific animal that, for whatever reason, you have an non-attributable and unnecessary obsession with?

5. I did NOT like country music until a few years ago.

At all.

Then I reconnected with a friend who was super into country, and since then, it’s been my JAM. I spend a lot of time listening to country radio stations in the car.

I’m still not partial to country music that’s TOO country. You know what I’m talking about—the extra banjo-ey and twangy stuff. I have a special name for it: hickory-dickory dock music.

What’s your favorite country song?

6. I own 56 Webkinz… still.

When I was a kid, Webkinz were a huge, huge, HUGE thing. In fact, I'd go so far as to say Webkinz were one of the best aspects of my childhood.

For anyone who doesn’t know what Webkinz are, they are these stuffed animals that come with an exclusive code you enter in online to play with them in the virtual world. There, you can play games, design your house, do jobs, etc.

I also had TyGirlz and played with those for a while, but they had nothing on my Webkinz.

I would collect one after another—and still, I only had a fraction of all the different plush animals that Ganz (the company that created Webkinz). Even when my family moved back overseas and they were harder to come by, my dad would bring back a couple for me every time he took a trip to the US.

One of the first regular channels I followed on YouTube was a girl named Starrystar33, who, in my mind, was the QUEEN of Webkinz World. She had a huge collection and decorated the cutest virtual home, and made real videos with her Webkinz stuffed animals, too.

I honestly believe this is where my love for interior design and decorating began—in the virtual homes of my Webkinz-children.

I ended up with… 56 Webkinz. I think?

I still have all of them. I plan to save them to give to my future kids someday. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. More likely, I just can’t bear to part with them.

If it ain’t somehow apparent yet, my adoration for these toys was endless.

What toy did you grow up with that was the BIG thing at the time?

7. I received my college degree when I was 20.

The picture above was my high school graduation, but I don't have any from college. I threw a party to celebrate but didn't deck myself out with the whole cap & gown apparel.

The reason I was able to get my bachelor's degree at such a young age is because I did PSEO (post-secondary enrollment option) when I was still in high school. For those who aren't familiar with this, students can take college courses (on campus!) that count toward for both high school AND college credits.

For me, it was a win-win, no doubt about it (if not only because I no longer had to attend high school!). This put me ahead and saved me thousands of dollars.

It is a great idea for any student, like myself, who is eager to depart from the trivial rules and drama that secondary school often contains and is ready to take their college journey seriously.

However, if you are considering PSEO, yet you genuinely enjoy high school—or at least certain aspects of it, like hanging out with friends and attending events like prom—consider sticking high school through its course because it sounds like it was meant for you. I wish it had been meant for me!

Getting my BA at the young age of 20 was a huge accomplishment for me, one of the achievements I am most proud of. But here's the kicker...

I WAS ACTUALLY 19 WHEN I FINISHED MY COURSEWORK.

...Or so I thought.

I was wrapping up my final semester when my about-to-retire adviser (whom I met with a year in advance to make something like this DIDN'T happen) somehow made a mistake in counting my credits and told me I needed one more 4-more credit class to graduate. Or, rather, I had to reach out to HIM to find this out.

Luckily, I arranged an independent study with my favorite teacher, where all I had to do was read half of the book, Don Quixote—albeit, half of that book is still 500 pages—and write a paper on an aspect of it. It was a very casual thing that I didn’t really consider to constitute a whole “semester,” but technically because of that, my birthday passed and I was actually 20 when I graduated.

The unfortunate part is that I was just one of many students whose graduation dates were inadvertently tampered with due to such oversights. I was pretty miffed at the time; however, life is TOO SHORT to hold onto petty grudges. I recognize that mistakes happen and that, in the long run—in the short run, even—it ain’t gonna matter one bit whether I was 19 or 20 when I graduated.

Getting a degree at any age is an accomplishment, whether you're 20 or 50.

I was just a weeeeee bit salty about it at the time.

If you earned a degree, how old were you when you received it?

ALTERNATIVE QUESTION: If you didn't go to college, which career route did you choose instead?

8. A part of me didn't think this blog would ever happen.

Someday, I'm sure I'll write on here about my process in creating this blog. For now, I'm just working to get it rolling.

It's like I got it on its feet, and now I'm teaching it to take steps forward.

I began working on creating this blog around September of 2019. Once I began that process, my faith grew that it would someday launch and be a real THING.

Before that, though, despite always knowing I wanted to establish an online presence and reach people through my words, as well as always INTENDING to create this blog, there was a growing doubt in me that I ever would.

This is because I had begun to create a blog multiple times in the past and failed. I didn't fail because I launched it and it was a failure. I failed because I didn't try hard enough. Because I would hit road blocks (and there are admittedly LOTS of them, and it's very frustrating), and I would throw my hands up in the air and give up.

What made this time different? A few things.

I had no more excuses. Before, my excuse was that my schedule was always jam-packed with school and work and living on my own. And in my defense, it IS true that one person can only handle so much on their plate—or at least handle to each item's fullest extent. But then I graduated college, and I had no other excuses. So I got to work.

I also got somewhat of a grip on my fear of failure. Most of us share in that fear, and it is the single-most deadly force to a person's dreams. I finally saw enough Pinterest posts to be convinced that the only way to fail is to not try—and that form of failure is so much more humiliating than any other.

Lastly, the reason this time was different was because of him. Two him's, actually. The first being Thomas Kirschbaum, my boyfriend, my techy problem-solver. This time, when I hit those roadblocks, I knew I could turn to him for help. He was a spring of inspiration and resilience, and I still don't know if I would've seen this blog into fruition without him. And then there's Him, God. I'm religious, and I believe that most importantly, I was able to get to this point because of God. When I make that statement, I'm not undermining the hours of work I put into it to make this my reality; I'm making the connection that without the good health, determination, literal MEANS to make this happen (real things like money and internet and a computer), and people LIKE Thomas whom He allowed me to meet, I wouldn't have been in the place or mindset to pour those countless hours INTO getting this blog running. I did it because I was given the means TO do it. :-)

Have you ever made a dream your reality?